The longest river

Chapter 85 "Fighting Fish"

"God!"

Even Mike Breen, who has witnessed countless NBA games and iconic moments, was speechless with disbelief.

Shaquille O'Neal got dunked on?
And it was against a wing player?!

Before this, O'Neal had only been dunked on by Derrick Coleman once in an official game, during his rookie season.

But Coleman is an inside player.

Although Jordan also had a record of dunking over O'Neal, it was because O'Neal couldn't keep up with Jordan's movement during help defense, so strictly speaking, it didn't count as a dunk over him.

But Yang Shuai did just that during his rookie season.

Because of the immense forward momentum, Yang Shuai's foot landed on O'Neal's waist when he dunked.

O'Neal, enraged, shoved Yang Shuai.

If Yang Shuai hadn't hung his other hand on the rim after the dunk to steady himself, O'Neal would have sent him crashing to the ground from the air.

Yang Shuai felt O'Neal's strength and didn't hold back, directly putting his legs on O'Neal's neck.

"Negative energy from Shaquille O'Neal +1000".

O'Neal was completely enraged and immediately hugged Yang Shuai.

The referee then realized something was wrong, quickly blew his whistle, and rushed toward the two men.

The other team members reacted quickly and rushed forward as well.

O'Neal was pulled away first, and then Yang Shuai let go of the rim and jumped down.

Even after being pulled away, O'Neal continued to complain to the referee, clearly very unhappy with Yang Shuai's actions.

Yang Shuai was recreating the scene from the game against the Mavericks. He didn't seem angry; he just stood on the sidelines and smiled.

What is there for him to be angry about?

Not only did he dunk on O'Neal, but O'Neal also contributed a thousand points to him in that single play.

Before this, he had only ever achieved this much with Jordan.

The match resumed after a brief clash.

Yang Shuai and O'Neal each received a technical foul, which meant nothing happened.

As the quarter drew to a close, O'Neal was substituted off the court to rest, while Yang Shuai remained on the court.

Perhaps because of his dunk over O'Neal, Yang Shuai became somewhat excited, which was most directly reflected in his aggressiveness on the defensive end.

Hardaway had already left the field to rest, and Brian Shaw had come on in his place.

However, after only two rounds, Xiao was forced to make a dribbling mistake by Yang Shuai, who quickly grabbed the ball and immediately launched a fast break dunk.

After completing the dunk, Yang Shuai provocatively flexed his muscles in celebration towards Shaquille O'Neal on the sidelines.

As O'Neal's face darkened, Yang Shuai once again gained 748 points.

Thanks to Yang Shuai's strong performance after entering the game, the Pacers and Magic were tied at 26 after the first quarter.

During the break, Scott approached Yang Shuai and reminded him to control his emotions.

"Shaq is not someone to be trifled with."

Those who had conflicts with Yang Shuai before, such as Starks, Stackhouse, Jim Jackson, and Richmond, were all people who played in the same position as Yang Shuai.

Even if a conflict does break out, even if Yang Shuai doesn't gain the upper hand, he won't suffer too much of a loss.

But O'Neal is different. With O'Neal's size, he could easily beat Yang Shuai in a fight.

Scott's reminder was correct, but in reality, Yang Shuai and O'Neal were on the court together for a very limited time.

Except for those two minutes in the first quarter, Yang Shuai had already been substituted when O'Neal came back in for the second quarter.

However, while sitting on the sidelines, Yang Shuai noticed something interesting: whenever he made eye contact with O'Neal, a system notification would sound in his mind.

Although it's only a couple hundred, much less than when I was on the field before, I almost never miss a game.

O'Neal may look huge, but his mentality is comparable to that of Luther King Jr. back in the day.

He couldn't help but recall the catchy children's song "Baby Shark" that he had heard before.

He should really go up to O'Neal and sing him a song.

At halftime, the Pacers and Magic were tied at 47.

The Magic's strength is not significantly different from last season, but the Pacers have recovered their strength after experiencing ups and downs at the beginning of the season.

Of course, Yang Shuai's presence in the first half was also very strong.

Besides that dunk, his ability to disrupt O'Neal's offensive rhythm through help defense and double-teaming after he entered the game was also key to the Pacers turning the tide.

"The Pacers should start Hansen in the second half," Brin suggested during halftime.

Hubie Brown, standing to the side, smiled; he knew Larry Brown wouldn't do that.

When the Pacers returned for the second half, they did not make any changes to their starting lineup.

However, they made changes on the defensive end, with Brown trying to match up McGee against Hardaway.

McGee's help defense was excellent; his double-teaming efforts under the basket successfully disrupted O'Neal's shot, and the Pacers executed a successful defensive play.

However, in the next possession, just like in the first quarter, Hardaway directed O'Neal to set a screen at the high post, and then used the screen to quickly drive to the basket for a layup.

Because of his height, McGee will definitely find it more difficult to bypass O'Neal than Yang Shuai.

In the next round, Hardaway even drove right past McGee.

Although McGee is a second-team defensive player, his one-on-one defense was still somewhat lacking against Hardaway. After getting past McGee, Hardaway quickly passed the ball to Grant under the basket, who easily scored two points, despite Davis's help defense.

Hardaway has the physique of a wing player, but plays like a point guard. If the defender in charge can't keep up with him, it leads to the collapse of the entire defensive system.

Brown's defensive adjustment appears to have failed.

Thanks to Hardaway's performance, the Magic started the third quarter with a 10-2 run, regaining their lead.

Brown was forced to call a timeout.

It was only at this point that he finally abandoned his defensive adjustments and substituted Yang Shuai for McGee.

Yang Shuai's appearance on the court had an immediate effect.

In fact, Yang Shuai's defensive strategy is essentially no different from McGee's; both are about defending against drives and allowing shots. However, McGee cannot keep up with Hardaway's pace of driving, while Yang Shuai can.

And when O'Neal set the screen again, the situation of that possession being interrupted by a foul in the first half finally came to a conclusion.

After Yang Shuai slid past O'Neal's screen, he successfully caught up with Hardaway and seized the opportunity to poke the ball out of bounds as Hardaway went for a layup.

With little time remaining, Scott's three-point attempt after receiving the ball on the sideline missed, Davis secured the defensive rebound, and the Pacers executed a successful defensive play.

Furthermore, in the next possession, when the Magic focused their defense on Miller, who had performed exceptionally well in the first half, Schmitz moved to the weak side to set a high screen for Yang.

Yang Shuai also took advantage of this pick-and-roll to exploit the gap that O'Neal couldn't defend, and after receiving a pass from Robertson, he hit a three-pointer.

With this offensive and defensive move, the Pacers finally stabilized the situation on the court.

However, that's not the point. The point is that right after hitting that three-pointer, Yang Shuai made a "too small" sarcastic gesture towards O'Neal on the far side.

When Scott saw this, his heart clenched. Yang Shuai had completely forgotten what he had said in the first half.

Hearing the notification of 1,000 points ringing in his mind again, Yang Shuai was already feeling a little smug.

The game wasn't over yet, and O'Neal had already given him nearly five thousand points.

This was even though the two didn't interact much on the field.

If possible, he would like to play against the Magic in every single 82 games of the season.

Yang Shuai once again ignited O'Neal's anger, and the Big Diesel overpowered Schmitz to forcefully demand the ball.

In the first half, Yang Shuai failed to stop O'Neal in a head-on defense, so this time he went to the basket to help defend.

Hardaway had a wide-open three-point opportunity, and after hesitating for a moment, he chose to take the shot.

"when!"

The basketball bounced off the rim and went out of bounds.

With the league's three-point line shortened this season, Hardaway's average three-point attempts per game is a career high of 3.5.

However, with the three-point line shortened, he still managed a 31.4% three-point shooting percentage, indicating that his long-range shooting talent is indeed lacking.

In the scramble for the basket, Schmitz was desperately trying to block O'Neal, while Grant was struggling to prevent Davis from jumping. None of them were able to get up immediately.

Just then, someone suddenly sprang up from the ground under the basket; it was none other than Yang Shuai, who had come over to help defend.

As for Hardaway, who was matched up against Yang Shuai, he had only just taken a three-pointer and naturally couldn't really compete with Yang Shuai for position.

Yang Shuai grabbed rebounds one after another over the heads of several big men.

However, during his descent, an enraged O'Neal shoved Yang Shuai in mid-air.

Fortunately, O'Neal, who was blocked by Schmitz, couldn't exert too much force. In addition, Yang Shuai's core strength was not weak either. He took a few steps before landing with the ball in his hand and barely managed to stabilize his body.

However, after turning around, Yang Shuai angrily slammed the ball at O'Neal.

O'Neal has made this malicious move against him more than once tonight.

No one expected Yang Shuai to make such a move after being fouled, including O'Neal.

"boom!"

The ball slammed straight into O'Neal's forehead.

Moreover, after seeing the ball hit O'Neal's head, Yang Shuai's next action immediately plunged the entire arena into chaos.

Yang Shuai simply opened his arms to O'Neal.

This provocative move completely ignited O'Neal's anger. Like an enraged bull, he charged towards Yang Shuai.

Everyone else at the scene was too shocked to react in time, and even if they did react, it was too late to stop it.

Scott's heart was in his throat; Yang Shuai was probably going to get hospitalized by O'Neal.

However, what happened next shocked everyone present once again.

Scott was completely stunned.

Just as O'Neal was about to rush in front of Yang Shuai, Yang Shuai, just like he does when defending, slid sideways and dodged to the side.

O'Neal charged toward the Pacers' bench like a bull that had lost its way.

The Pacers' bench erupted into chaos as players scattered in all directions.

Without any cushioning, O'Neal had the closest physical contact with the bench and the bench behind him.

There was an uproar at the scene.

Yang Shuai's entire routine just now instantly reminded them of a bullfighting performance in Spain.

However, since Shaquille O'Neal isn't a bull but a great white shark, perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a "fighting fish."

(End of this chapter)